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NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2019)
NXT TakeOver: WarGames (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. It took place on November 23, 2019 at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois. It was the third event under the WarGames chronology, and the first to have a Women's WarGames match, as well as the first to have two WarGames matches, scheduled on the same night. Five matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Team Ciampa (Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Dominik Dijakovic, and Kevin Owens) defeated The Undisputed Era in a WarGames match. In the penultimate match, Finn Bálor defeated Matt Riddle. Production Backgrounds NXT TakeOver is a series of professional wrestling shows that began on May 29, 2014, as the WWE developmental territory NXT held their second WWE Network exclusive live broadcast billed as NXT TakeOver. In subsequent months, the "TakeOver" moniker became the brand used by WWE for all of their NXT live specials. Storylines The card will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers on the NXT brand. Storylines are produced on the NXT television program. On the October 30 episode of NXT, a brawl was broke out with all the women on the roster after the conclusion of WWE Women's Tag Team Championship match. This prompted the NXT general manager William Regal to schedule the first ever women's WarGames match with Shayna Baszler and Rhea Ripley being captain for their respective teams. On November 6 edition of The Bump, it was revealed that Ripley picked Tegan Nox and Candice LeRae, while Baszler picked Bianca Belair and Io Shirai. On the same night at NXT, Ripley decided to pick Mia Yim as the final pick for her team after Yim saving her team from a brawl, following the conclusion of women's match between Baszler and Dakota Kai. On the November 13 episode of NXT, a ladder match between Yim and Shirai was held to determine which team would get the WarGames advantage. NXT UK Women’s Champion Kay Lee Ray interfered, allowing Shirai to win, and subsequently joined Baszler's team. However, during the WarGames Pre-Show, Yim was attacked backstage by an unknown person and was unable to compete in the match. As a result, Ripley had to chose Kai as her replacement. On the October 30 episode of NXT, NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish of The Undisputed Era defeated Matt Riddle and Keith Lee in a non-title tag team match. Post-match, all the members of The Undisputed Era proceeded to attack Lee and Riddle, before Tommaso Ciampa making the save. The following night on NXT, it was announced that a men's WarGames match was scheduled between all members of The Undisputed Era against the team of Ciampa, Riddle, Lee, and a partner of their choosing. On the November 13 episode of NXT, following a match between Lee and Roderick Strong, The Undisputed Era attacked Ciampa and Lee until Dominik Dijakovic appeared. Dijakovic offered to be the fourth member of the team, which Ciampa accepted. Later that night, Riddle left Ciampa’s team after being scheduled to face Finn Bálor. On the November 20 episode of NXT, Cole defeated Dijakovic in a ladder match to gain the WarGames advantage. On the November 13 episode of NXT, Finn Bálor insulted the NXT roster as “all boys who can't take a beating”, specifically mentioning Johnny Gargano and Matt Riddle. Riddle attacked Bálor, who retreated. Later that night, Riddle assisted his then-WarGames partners Tommaso Ciampa and Keith Lee against their scheduled opponents, The Undisputed Era. However, Bálor appeared and attacked Riddle. As a result, a match between the two was scheduled for TakeOver. On the October 16 episode of NXT, Pete Dunne performed a Finger Snap on Killian Dain, before Dunne's scheduled match against Damian Priest. Priest would later defeat Dunne after a low blow. A rematch between Dunne and Priest was scheduled on the November 6 episode of NXT, where Dunne would win by submission. Following the match, Dain attacked both Dunne and Priest. On the November 13 episode of NXT, a match between Dunne and Dain was scheduled on the night. However, Priest attacked Dain and subsequently, a brawl occurred between the three. On November 19, a triple threat match between Dunne, Dain, and Priest was scheduled for TakeOver, with the winner receiving an NXT Championship match against champion Adam Cole at Survivor Series the following night. On November 22, a match between Isaiah "Swerve" Scott and Angel Garza was scheduled for the TakeOver pre-show. Aftermath After the show, in a Facebook video alongside Triple H, Rhea Ripley selected Candice LeRae, Bianca Belair, Io Shirai and NXT UK superstar Toni Storm as part of the NXT team for the women's 5-on-5-on-5 survivor series match. During the Survivor Series kickoff show the following day, Shawn Michaels announced Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Damian Priest, Matt Riddle, and WWE United Kingdom Champion Walter as part of the NXT team for the men's 5-on-5-on-5 survivor series match. At the event, NXT won brand supremacy over Raw and SmackDown after Ripley's team, Roderick Strong, and Shayna Baszler each won their interbrand matches, while Lio Rush retained the NXT Cruiserweight Championship against representatives from RAW and SmackDown; in one of the three non-interbrand matches on the card, Adam Cole retained the NXT Championship against Pete Dunne. On Raw the following Monday, as part of a larger "town hall" discussing Raw's performance during Survivor Series, Seth Rollins chastised Kevin Owens for participating in the WarGames match with Team Ciampa, questioning his loyalty to Raw and mockingly referring to him as "Mr. NXT". In response, Owens performed a stunner and challenged him to a match later on the show. The match would end in a disqualification win for Owens after former NXT Tag Team Champions AOP (Akam and Rezar) (who Rollins chastised earlier for not participating at Survivor Series at all) attacked Owens. Rollins then performed two Stomps on Owens.30 Following Tommaso Ciampa's teammates Dominik Dijakovic and Keith Lee's performance in the WarGames match (with Team Ciampa winning) and also Lee's performance in the men's Survivor Series elimination match, William Regal announced that both Dijakovic and Lee will have their opportunity to challenge The Undisputed Era's Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly for the NXT Tag Team Championships on November 27 episode of NXT. 31 Fish, however, ended up sustaining an injury and was replaced by fellow member Roderick Strong where Strong and O'Reilly defeated Dijakovic and Lee to retain the titles. On the November 27 episode of NXT, the entire roster (including NXT UK) celebrated their brand's victory over Raw and SmackDown at Survivor Series only for The Undisputed Era to interrupt. Cole stated that the only reason why NXT brand were dominant was due to their stable and not because of the roster. Cole also mentioned that the roster did absolutely nothing on the weekend. Ciampa reminded Cole that it was his team that defeated The Undisputed Era at WarGames and warned them that their days of holding their championship belts were numbered, with Ciampa focusing on Cole's NXT Championship. Finn Bálor then interrupted and stated that Ciampa was standing in his way. In response, Ciampa issued a challenge to Balor, which the latter agreed. During the match, Bálor defeated Ciampa, due to interference by Cole. Following the match, Bálor performed a Pele Kick on Cole. Following Dakota Kai's ambush on Tegan Nox at WarGames, Kai faced Candice LeRae on the November 27 episode of NXT, where Kai attacked LeRae with Nox's knee brace, thus LeRae won by disqualification. As Kai attempted to attack LeRae with the chair, Ripley came out to LeRae's aid. Later that night, Ripley had a face-to-face confrontation with Shayna Baszler, and congratulating her for defeating Becky Lynch and Bayley at Survivor Series. Ripley then reminded Baszler that her team defeated Baszler's team at WarGames and then issued a challenge to Baszler for the NXT Women's Championship. On the 18 episode of NXT, Ripley defeated Baszler to win the NXT Women's Championship, also ending Baszler reign at 416 days. Matches *Dakota Kai and Tegan Nox did not take part in the match after Kai attacked Nox, resulting in Nox being taken out of the match and Kai being forced to leave ringside. However, both Kai and Nox were announced as winners. Other on-screen personnel See also * List of NXT pay-per-view events * NXT TakeOver Category:NXT TakeOver series Category:World Wrestling Entertainment NXT pay-per-view events Category:2019 NXT pay-per-view events Category:WWE Network events